Organizational Strategies When Shopping for a Laptop

Shopping for a laptop can be both overwhelming and stressful when you are not knowledgeable about the components that makeup a laptop because you will find that there are many different options to choose from. Laptops are be classified into different categories that sever different needs. Below are some of the most common categories:

1. Every day computing or light use – This type of laptop would be a good fit for someone who will use it for simple tasks such as checking email, social networking, paying bills online or just surfing the web.
2. Entertainment and or gaming – This type of laptop normally will have a larger screen and powerful processor which are a good fit for those who desire to watch movies, play games online and for editing photos or videos.
3. Lightweight or Ultrathin – This type of laptop is ideal for those who travel often such as students or those traveling for business.
4. Business or high performance laptops – This type of laptop has top of the line processors to allow for a large amount of memory and storage space to house software and also provide the user with excellent power, while being durable and maintaining reliable connectivity.

Laptop categories can be broken down further by partitioning them in order to compare the features

and components that make up the system in order to determine which laptop would be the best match for your personal needs. Partitioning deals with one thing and separates it into parts, chunks, sections or categories for closer examinations (Lannon, 2008). For this assignment I will partition the lightweight ultrathin laptops which are ideal for students and individuals who must travel often for business.

Separating their features I found the following:

What I Learned from this Exercise

After completing this exercise I learned that although laptops may fall under the same categories they still will have differences. When partitioning for closer examination, I found that although these are all lightweight laptops ideal for students or individuals who travel often, there were still differences in the operating systems, processors, storage, and costs. While having an ultra-light lap top was the main need, it is also important to also consider the processor type because according to Best Buy’s laptop buying guide, the processor is like the brain of the computer working in combination with the systems memory in order to determine how many programs you can open at the same time and how fast they will run. For students and business travelers the capability of multitasking, will be an important feature.

  

After a closer look of the features contained in all three laptops which I partitioned above, the Apple – MacBook Air, the HP ProBook Notebook and the Asis-VivoBook, I would say that the best deal appears to be the HP ProBook Notebook. The HP ProBook contains the same processor as the MacBook, which means it is just as powerful allowing for multitasking and running more than one program at a time. The HP ProBook also has a slightly larger screen, more storage, is lighter in weight and is slightly less expensive. Through partitioning the category of Lightweight Ultrathin laptops I was able to analyze and compare the features that make up each laptop and this deeper look helped me determine which laptop would be the best match for the needs of a student.

References

Best Buy. (2015). Laptops Buying Guide. Retrieved from: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/computing-promotions/laptop-buying-guide/pcmcat310900050007.c?id=pcmcat310900050007

Lannon, J. M. (2008). Technical Communication (11th Ed.) Ashford Custom. New York: Pearson Longman.

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. (2015). Laptop Categories. Retrieved from http://www.toshiba.com/us/types-of-laptops